There are probably several other things I should be doing right now--but I should also be doing this, so I'm going to do this, or maybe this also, depending on how everything else comes together. This, of course, is running games for Dave, Harry, John III, and John II.
I'll give Dave some information about his situation, and some information about how to accelerate game play.
Harry can't expect that the Piper crew will take the risks of boarding another ship very often, and with a 15 GE roll his side is going to be winning, but not so well that they are going to be too eager to try to claim another ship.
John III moves on to two more local healings, 28 on the next, 66 on the third. Now he has to decide what to do about the sick who are not here.
John II's escape effort is technically a stealth roll--a skill not listed on his sheet. He gets a substantial bonus for being invisible, but it's still a matter of being able to move quietly without doing anything that will show where he is. After all, if one of the confused occupants of the room crashes into him, that's going to be a clear giveaway.
That's all for now.
--M. J. Young
Dave, Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme are here--and as pleasantly surprised as I am to see multiple posts from Graeme, I am even more pleased to see that Scott is getting back into his game. I guess finals must have ended, and I hope all students have done well.
Dave is setting up a training regime, although that's a lot of practice for a level one skill ability level. I might have to use will power checks to see if he keeps up on that over the long haul.
Harry keeps trying to identify and shoot the captain of the pirate ship, and he has not yet gotten a good enough GE roll for such a thing. 17 is still not good enough. It does mean, though, that the gradual progression toward driving the pirates away will continue unabated.
We'll get some theological discussion going with John III.
I hope I don't have to remember Scott's entire ritual. It's pretty likely that it will work, if the bias supports what he is doing. Meanwhile, he gets a 24 GE on the darkness skill practice session.
We're adding 1@5 Stealth B0@6 to John II's sheet, which combined with his 1@7 BRA and 2x7@ bias and +20 for invisibility gives him a 66% chance of moving undetected. If he succeeds, the demons get no roll for attempting to locate him by non-magical means; if he fails, they get an intuition check. 15 is a success. He next prays for healing, which I take to be a M+2@7 Unlimited Damage Repair. A quick look at the numbers tells me that he has increased the TF from 2:00 to 5:00 which gives him +13, +5 appropriate words, -10 for single aspect and he's got a bias of 11@7 so this is a guaranteed success, the roll is 50, 1@1 Unlimited Damage Repair M+2@7 pray "God, heal my injuries, that I might continue this battle" for five minutes +3SM.
I think Graeme needs two GE rolls--one, the more difficult, for what is happening with the emperor and his mother; the other, getting a druid. The lesser first is 17, so that will work (because we know that they are out there). The more difficult is 9, As Good As Expected. Graeme is not really expecting good, but I think this will be good even while being bad.
Hmmm--the buttons on the task bar keep moving. Well, I'm closing this one now--we're done here.
--M. J. Young
You only get +20 on a stealth roll for being invisible? I would have thought that would make it almost a guaranteed success. Oh well, I'm not the one that wrote the rules.
John - I think that if you were visible, they would get to use non-magical means to try to defeat your successful stealth roll. I'm not sure, but that's what MJ's phrasing suggests to me. Also, you're getting a lot of benefits from your invisibility besides the stealth bonus; even if they did "know where you are", they'd still be targeting an approximate area, with a sizable penalty on all their attacks for not knowing exactly where you are.
MJ - You won't have to remember the ritual, at least not without help. I've been posting bits and pieces of it all along (here), but once I'm done I intend to bring it all together into a summary post with links to more detail where required. I intend this to be a M15@1 Create Holy Symbol, and I'm absolutely sure that with my shiny new 11@1 magic bias that this monster ritual is a guaranteed success - if everything goes smoothly. It runs on a time table, and there are some aspects of Phase IV that just might get me "investigated."
Scott, I was just trying to walk away from the demons. I most likely would not have had that option in that situation, had I not been invisible. I just would have thought it would have been a greater bonus than that. That's all.
John, Stealth has very specific effects in game: a successful stealth roll eliminates an opponent's intuition check. In this particular case, the opponent knows that you are somewhere, but he does not know exactly where; he's got all his senses on overdrive trying to pick up some clue as to where you are. Also, he probably knows that you took the invisibility cloak from his companion, so he knows that you are invisible and he knows why. You thus are attempting to deceive his senses so that he cannot find you. Stealth is your ability not to create any detectable presence. Now, you're invisible, so you don't have to work too hard on not being seen; but you still might be heard, or smelled, or even felt--if your movement creates pressure changes (blind people can sense when something is in front of them by the air pressure and movement). You might even be seen, if you do something that might cause you to be seen--and particularly since you don't know exactly how well this thing works. If you shift it the wrong way, will your shoes show (think Harry Potter)? If you get caught between the bright sunlight and the dark shadows, will you distort the light enough to leave a partial shade (think Bilbo Baggins)? If you get splashed with something opaque or even transluscent, will that show (the invisible man)? Just how invisible are you? Can they see the muzzle flash of your gun if they happen to be looking in the right direction? Can they find you by smelling the powder?
Had you not been invisible, you would not even have gotten the stealth roll. After all, you would have been standing there in plain site, the focus of everyone's attention. Disappearing in such a situation would require someone with expert level stealth (the ability to do what others would have said impossible). Because of the invisibility, you had enough of an edge to attempt to vanish to the other senses as well. That's what the stealth roll did.
What you got was +20 on your stealth check, because you did not need to eliminate sight as a detection method. You succeeded in the roll; that meant they could not have located you merely by an intuition check. They might have had some other means--a detect invisibles spell, for example.
Had the roll failed, that would have meant that you did not succeed in covering up the other sensory information. They might have heard you, or smelled you, or felt you, or detected you by some other natural ability. They might have some intensified senses skill that enables them to locate objects by some other means--you are invisible, but a bat's echolocation would tell it exactly where you are, because it is based on sound, not light. That would mean they would get an intuition check--the same check you would get to notice something you might not notice. If the intuition check succeeded, they would know where you were--but still take a -20 penalty on attacking something they could not see. If the intuition check failed, they would be in the same position they were when you made your stealth roll, not knowing where you were.
So it's not as if had you failed the stealth roll they would know exactly where you were. (Had you botched, that would have been a reasonably likely scenario--you fell, and dropped the cloak, or landed in the pudding creating a large dent of your presence--but that's why botches make the game so interesting, and it's not the only possible botch. You might have stumbled right into the arms of a searching guard.) They still would have to make their intuition check, and they still would be swinging at an invisible target.
As you may have noticed, I am here on Saturday; this is a weak effort to make up for the fact that I was absent on both Thursday and Friday, which was explained briefly and inadequately in yesterday's Blogless Lepolt entry, Roamin's. I am thus confronted with a number of waiting players. That number is six: Dave, Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme.
Dave is training and learning for the moment. I'll start GE rolls on events for him soon, but for now he's good.
Ah, Harry wants to know how to get to Carnegie Hall.
John III is not entirely certain about his skill use here, so let's clarify what we're doing.
Scott has initiated an interesting conversation, but I'm momentarily at a loss for how Alice would respond, so I'm going to ask a couple of questions to get back into the mind of the maid.
John II is leaving the room, but he did not say which direction.
There is probably a joke in the name Getafix--ah, there it is, a recurring character in the comic Asterix. Well, it's fine with me, if Graeme wants to call him that. I would think that a Druid would do divination in an oak grove or similar natural location--certainly not in the heart of a high-tech city--but I give him a GE roll. 17 isn't quite so bad as that.
--M. J. Young
Thanks for explaining that MJ. It's just every time I think I have this damn game figured out, you throw another monkey in the wrench. Maybe I should stop trying to figure it out, and try reading the rulebook instead.
It looks like I have four players today--Harry, John III, Scott, and John II.
Harry is headed into a quiet stretch, but he has some questions which can be answered.
I'm going to use John III's individual patient skill; first I am going to roll for the condition of the patient, and a GE 16 puts it middlin'. 91 on the skill check, however, fails under the circumstances. Just to check the numbers, it's a 1@2 SAL, +14 SM, half of a 2@3 religion for +12, +10 alliance skill, 2@2 BRA, and 12@ bias but the world bias is 7@ so he's limited to +14 there. That's 84%.
Scott gets a 20 GE roll on the painkiller in the apartment, which is just bad enough and means that he's going to find something but not something that works particularly well on brain burn.
John II is moving forward.
--M. J. Young
Moving toward the end of a long day, I have Dave, Harry, John III, Scott, and John II. Let's see what I can do with them.
Dave gets a 19 GE on events, which means the peace is going to come to an end, and we need an adventure--but not something too serious.
Harry has asked a question for which I think I should offer an answer to referees:
I wonder if it would do me any good to do a ritual akin to calling the four quarters, basically to set up a sanctified space either on the deck, around the helm, or in my quarters, in terms of thereafter being able to include "within such-and-so sanctified space" as a component in future divine spells (especially things like staving off fatigue, skill bonusing spells, and so on) that might come in handy further on. Metaphysically I know this does something. In real life I more or less can't actually do magic without it. I just wonder if it would do me any good, out here in the Verse, as it were.Again, as I told him in the game thread, if a player asks this the answer is, "How would you know?" The answer for the player is for his character to try it, unless he has a magical mentor or source of information he can ask.
For the referee, the answer is much simpler: anything that limits a magic skill bonuses it. The amount of a bonus ought to be commensurate with the degree of limitation. Generally for any skill that can only be performed in a defined but moveable space--whether "holy ground" or "base camp"--gets a bonus of +10 for it. If that space is more specific, the bonus can be higher--for example, if it can only be performed "in an alliance cathedral with not less than ten thousand feet of floor space and a fifty foot interior ceiling", that could be +20; if it must be done "in Canterbury Cathedral" I would give +30 for that.
I might also give consideration to the ritual which creates the holy ground. Generally I cover these under M1@1 Ceremonies NOS, listed as consecration of holy ground. The ceremonies are lengthy--you cannot create holy ground in a minute--but if you create a very elaborate ritual of consecration, something not easy to duplicate and thus harder to move, a higher bonus might be in order.
That answers that.
John III rolls 97 on his 1@1 Bonus Healing Magic skill, but it's got a +43 SM in it, with +2x7 for bias, 2@2 BRA, +12 for religion, and +10 for alliance world. That gives him a 112% chance of success on this in this world, so he gets RS/5=+20 on all healing skill checks for RSx15=1350 minutes=24:15, a full day and a bit more. I note, too, that that bonus will make his other skill infallible. He rolls 24 on this next check. Of course, anyone who can heal in this world is going to get a lot of attention quickly; the question is whether he will manage to get out of this town before he picks up more peasants seeking his ministrations.
Scott's conversation is going to be a bit weird for a few minutes.
O.K., John II is going after a M7@5 Locate Demons. Let me ask him a few questions.
I think I'm good for now.
--M. J. Young
Moving toward the end of a long day
Same 24 hours as every other day MJ. Come on, I thought time travel was your specialty. We're traveling into the future, one nanosecond at a time.
I have Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme playing at the moment.
Harry is going to consecrate some holy deck space; let's get clear what he is doing.
Now I know how long John III is delaying, I can roll that GE roll to determine whether he gets out of here without being waylaid by the populus: 7 is the roll, so I would say that he is good to go. He might even get some opportunity to preach a bit along the way.
I see no inherent reason why Scott's cleanse self skill would not also be good for a cleanse other, so I'll roll for it on that basis; if it fails, then I, too, will assume it doesn't work on others. It has a -5 sit-mod and 1@2 SAL, 2@6 BRA, and I believe the mag bias is flatlined here, so that's 33% chance of success, and the roll is 41, a failure. He then attempts to change the ritual to affect another, adding two wingnuts to it. Since wingnuts are a manufactured object, but simple, I will value them at 2 apiece. They are not destroyed, so the sit-mod is now -1, the target bias 3@1, his bias 4@1, his BRA 2@6, and I will give him a 1@2 example for his other skill, 47% chance to learn this skill, 39 rolled, and I just lost another d10. There it is--found it. 1@1 Cleanliness (Other) M3@1, caster holds one wingnut in each hand and gestures with both hands while saying, "Dicen que El Hijo se senta al lado de Dios. ¿Que está al otro lado? / Limpieza," then touches the target with the left-hand wingnut, cleans target object and its contents/adornments or a target creature and its on-person equipment; 6 seconds, sound vital, -1 SM.
We were working on the locate demon ritual for John II, and had to pause to determine his intended duration. He has gone for a 10:00 TF and 100:00, that is, 1:40:00, duration. He gets +5 for appropriate words, and I will give him +15 for total body commitment in kneeling, so he comes to +20SM on the ritual. He also has an 11@ bias, so we've got a hefty chance of success and I'm going to roll before crunching numbers this time: 23 works, 1@1 Locate Demon M+7@5 pray silently while kneeling for 10:00TF "God, give me direction to the remaining demons, that I might engage and kill them." duration 1:40:00 +20SM.
Graeme lands a 23 GE on being able to get to the grove and back in time--not impossible, but not all that likely.
--M. J. Young
My bias is actually M11@1, for the insect dispel. Probably you have the skill on my sheet but missed updating the character bias; just in case, though, I'll reprint the skill here:
1@1 Repel Insects M11@1 verbal only, "Vampiros viniendo. No tienes ajo, ellos no queman en el sol, y no tienen miede de Dios. Han cruzado ríos rapídos como nubes amorfos. ¿Cómo te proteges? / Loción anti-insecta.", which in English is "Vampires are coming. You have no garlic, they do not burn in the sun, and they have no fear of God. They have crossed swift rivers as amorphous clouds. How do you protect yourself? Bug repellent." (18 seconds), sound necessary, covers self only, RS/10 hours, prevents insects from biting, +17 SM
You are correct, Scott: the skill was listed, but the block in which the bias is recorded separately had not been updated. I have made the correction. Thanks. Now, let's see about Dave, Harry, and John II, before I fall asleep at the keys again.
Dave is in the middle of a battle, but he really doesn't have much to do. I did not expect him to go to the bridge, but then, I did not expect him to know where to go. We'll see what happens next.
Harry is performing a skill he has performed before. I am going to bet that a holy ground consecration skill has a base half hour duration (ceremonies NOS are left to the discretion of the referee, because there are too many variables), which gives him +20 for two doublings of the time, and I would guess that a thousand square feet would be the baseline, which is pretty close to what he's got. He also has +5 for appropriate words, a sufficiently defined physical action to cover that, and I think I'm giving +7 for Soulmourn as a unique entity. The skill will be described as 1@8 Consecrate Holy Ground M+1@1 creates consecrated circle 8 feet in diameter, 2:00:00 TF, lengthy appropriate words calling the four corners, calling upon Njordr, god of the sea, to bless the space, Odin, in his capacity as god of wisdom, to guide the casting, and Freya, goddess of magic and patron of sorcerers, to lend strength and valor, with my sword Soulmourn in right hand, sound matters, in English, concentration not interrupted during casting, and limited so that if I am dismissed from the Mary Piper the circle will be rendered useless; add that five minute calling the corners and invoking the gods must be said inside the space before it can be used for casting, +32SM. That gives him +1@2+32+2@3 BRA in a world with a 0@ mag bias, 63% chance of success here. He rolls 45.
John II is crossing the dining room; Pedro might still be in there--I'll need a GE roll for that, but I also need to know what John will be thinking about Pedro to interpret that roll.
--M. J. Young
Let's see where everyone is--by whom I apparently mean Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme.
It appears that I neglected to copy Harry's ceremony to his character sheet yesterday; I've corrected that oversight now. Meanwhile, he has a new ritual,
- 1@8 Activate (Existing) Holy Ground M+1@1 5:00TF calling four corners by element and position, declaring purpose to work magic, say "Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the east. Keepers of water, the rolling ocean, I call to you. Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the south. Keepers of air, the rushing gales, I call to you. Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the west. Keepers of earth, the eternal mountains, I call to you. Hail to the guardians of the watchtowers of the north. Keepers of fire, the glory of dawn, I call to you. It is my purpose in this space to work magic. I humbly ask that I be allowed to use this gift, given me by the gods and shaped by my will and theirs. Odin, my patron, grant me wisdom, that I be rightly guided in this space. Freya, queen of all sorcerers, grant me power, your will and mine be one. Njordr, lord of the sea, keep steady this holy space, and look favorably on us as we go." Turn to each corner in turn, stand or sit with hands hip-height, palms open while declaring purpose, then with arms open while invoking the gods.
John III has stepped into a linguistic problem which we should be able to resolve swiftly.
Well, I was hoping that Scott would get a middle-of-the-curve GE, so that Alice would agree to the shopping trip but want more information. However, he managed to pull a comfortable 9 from the dice, so she's available.
Now that I know what John II is hoping, I can tell him what he finds from his 11 GE roll as he passes through into the hall. We'll get him closer.
I like Graeme's idea, but I'm pretty sure I know why no one else thought of it.
--M. J. Young
There is a post on the Character Creation Thread, and once I've handled that I turn my attention to Harry, Scott, and John II, and then take my weekend break.
We've resolved the question concerning Harry's skill; spells cast from activated holy ground that do not require holy ground will get an RS/20 bonus on success for being so cast (which will be a doubled factor when he reaches second level). That means his luck spell gets +3 for the holy ground, +1@10 SAL, +2@3 BRA, and the 0@ world bias impedes it some, so 46% chance that it will work this time, and the roll is 66, nothing will come of it.
Scott has several things happening, but none of them are particularly difficult.
John II has pursued his adversaries to the edge of their escape route; now he must deduce how they escaped--and how they got off his radar.
--M. J. Young
I return to find Dave, Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, and Graeme (who just missed me on Friday) waiting.
I've already rolled the GE roll for Dave's situation, and it was only moderately bad, so this is going to be a rough ride and then over.
Andrew rolls 14 on a computer use roll for his next querie, which is a weak success.
I note that the paperwork does not actually say that the flintlocks are not rifled, and in fact the long ones are called "rifles" in the description; on the other hand, the ranges are surprisingly short, which is what suggests to me that they are not rifled. The question is whether Harry can explain the concept to a gunsmith sufficiently that the man can make such a thing, and can do it in a day.
Harry has also made the assumption that the best gunshop would be operated by a gunsmith--in a world in which factory production is becoming common. A GE roll of 21 plays against him.
I'm going to make a stab at what a twelfth century English peasant might think is the good news so I can keep this discussion going with John III. This will upset him, I think.
John II:: Do you remember when I said that there are some things that are not worth rolling for because the odds are less than one in a thousand? O.K., this might not be one of them--but Pedro is not going to pick up anything he is not comfortable using, and he has no interest in boom sticks or shotgun shells, whatever value they might have to you. That makes the chance he would pick up the boom stick "Better than expected"--a 7--and the chance that he would pick up anything else you dropped "Well beyond hopes or expectations", a 4. Your requested GE roll is 17. And I was generous with my assessment on the roll--I did not really think there was as much as one chance in a thousand that Pedro would pick up such a weapon.
Searching for a secret door is the right answer; of course, it is not a mechanical secret door, but a magical one. John rolls 02 on his prayer (by the way, what are you thinking this particular prayer is?), and I'm going to answer it.
Graeme is going to go to a druidic augury. I'm not really stalling for time, just playing out some of the travel to give it more of a feeling of happening.
--M. J. Young
MJ, while I understand your point, I just wanted to make a point of my own. Really, I think this should be an intuition check on Pedro's part. He has seen, in person, my weapons fell three demons. From a standpoint of practicality, Pedro knows that my weapons are effective against demons. Might a man who is obsessed with hunting and killing demons take every weapon and advantage that he can get? He knows my weapons can hurt the demons. I don't think it unreasonable in the slightest that, from a standpoint of practicality, that Pedro would pick up my weapons.
Might a man who is obsessed with hunting and killing demons take every weapon and advantage that he can get?
Certainly he might. I think MJ's decision is based on Pedro not seeing this action as being to his advantage in his hunt. He's not comfortable using the boomstick; he would have to experiment with it to use it with any effectiveness. Meanwhile, carrying it around would tie up one of hands, preventing him from doing any of a number of things he can do quite well which would be of great and dependable effectiveness.
Imagine if instead Pedro had brought in and dropped a large, empty holy water font, which you would have to carry in both hands if you wanted to retrieve it - i.e., you couldn't use your guns while carrying it. You've seen him do effective magic against demons, and you have every reason to suspect that, if you could read the Latin written on the rim, this could be an effective weapon - somehow - you're not sure how. I doubt that you would bring this with you, considering how much more familiar you are with your own guns - which you are certain are effective, and how, and could use on a heartbeat's notice. The font is uninteresting to you; even if you were just planning to give it back to Pedro, what if you were ambushed in the halls? Wouldn't you rather have your gun in your hands than some mysterious relic of Pedro's?
Also, darn, I thought I posted yesterday. Maybe I only wrote it in my head. That happens now and again.
That makes more sense Scott. You really should consider becoming a teacher, no joke. I understand the logic now. It's just that I, personally, would really like to see that boom stick used in battle, and I really don't feel like sending my character back down to get it. I was just kind of hoping to bend the rules a tad here. Your explaination makes enough sense though.
John rolls 02 on his prayer (by the way, what are you thinking this particular prayer is?), and I'm going to answer it.
The prayer is something said in a moment of frustration in trying to engage my enemy. That's why it isn't too polite.
And Scott. I understand your point. The thing is though that while exploding spears might not be known to these people, normal spears and staff weapons are known to them. Who is to say that Pedro doesn't have decent proficiency with a staff weapon? Pedro might pick up the boom stick with the intention of using it as a staff. A bowl of holy water would be a totally alien weapon to me. If Pedro had left behind a black powder cap and ball weapon, something to which I had a modicum of familiarity, although I have never shot one before, I could see myself picking it up. I get your point though, I'm just making a point of my own.
Scott overlooks something in his otherwise excellent analysis: Pedro does not know how to use the boom stick, but he does know that it is a magic weapon, and since it is a magic device one must know how to use it in order to make it do what you say it does.
Thus to him it appears to be a blunt spear which a wizard with the appropriate arcane knowledge can cause to explode when it strikes an adversary. He does not have that knowledge, and is not likely to bring it along. Besides, the fact that you discarded it might mean that it did not work, or that it no longer works (he has heard multiple explosions, and is unlikely to have your discriminating sense of different kinds of explosions).
Besides, Pedro knows how he fights demons, and he does not know your methods. Imagine a karate grand master, someone with a 3@10 SAL in a weapon-adverse combat style, who has used a gun. You drop your gun where he can retrieve it. Maybe he would pick it up--if he were stupid. Because of the disparity in his skill, he knows that he can kill an opponent with his open hands faster than the opponent can react, but that using a gun it might take him several minutes to aim and fire the strange device adequately to incapacitate the same opponent. If you had the choice between using your pistol and a fusion rifle someone left for you to use, which would you choose? If you did not choose the pistol, you were foolish. Unless the enemy is immune to bullets, you've got a much better chance of killing him with the weapon you know.
I've got posts from Dave, Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme.
Dave has some conversations; that's easy enough.
Harry gets the first recognition for making the referee laugh aloud that I remember in a while--his line about wasting a couple hours of his vast eternity is a great Multiverser lines.
O.K., so maybe I shouldn't have played the game with John III's question, but it was such an obvious answer.
I'm having fun with this conversation with Scott. It's exactly the sort of thing that helps versers create their philosophies and theories of the verse, and Scott's the kind of player who has fun with that, so let's roll with it.
I am defining the prayer John II recently prayed thus:
1@1 Confirm Guidance M+7@7 drop to knees and pray "God, you're supposed to be leading me [optional insert for where]. What happened?" Pray for 5 minutes. +25SMThe sit-mod is thumbnailed, because the nature of the communicate with deity skill is rather nebulous; but I figure this does not require much of an answer, and it's a rather intense ritual for so little information, so I'm bonusing it reasonably heavily.
On the next prayer, I'm seeing a M+1@1 Bonus Morale (not a remove fear, as he does not presently have fear); the 0:12 TF is 1/5 that of the 1:00 proposed as baseline, which means -22 for that; he gets +15 for kneeling, and +5 for appropriate words, so that's -2 SM total. There's no danger that the skill would fail on learning, because of the bias difference, so it's just a question of how successful it is: 71 makes 1@2 Bonus Morale M+1@1 0:12 TF pray "God give me the courage to do what needs to be done" while kneeling, -2SM.
I'm going to ask him about the third prayer, but I will roll for the gun. This is an untargeted roll, which means his RSV is not part of the equation but neither is there a defensive value. The only question is whether the gun fires, so it's SAL+BRA+2xbias. The bias is 2x6@ for the limit of the world, 2@2 BRA, 1@10 for the gun, makes 54% chance that it will work properly. 40 is the first roll, a success. 77 is the second, which is a failure but not a botch.
Graeme has to reach his destination eventually, so let's move to the woods.
--M. J. Young
If you had the choice between using your pistol and a fusion rifle someone left for you to use, which would you choose?
MJ, that's a bad example, and I think you know it. I'd grab the fusion rifle, if I had even the slightest hint of how to make it work. I don't even know what a fusion rifle is, but it's gotta be more powerful than my 9mm.
I'd grab the fusion rifle, if I had even the slightest hint of how to make it work.
And that "if" was the difference here. Imagine this "fusion rifle" is shaped something like a steering wheel but with two tiny joysticks located on the rim, if that makes the example more believable for you. It comes with special gauntlets and a pair of goggles sporting two unlabeled dials.
Edit: I'm so totally using this weapon in the next sci-fi verse I run.
Point made Scott. You really should become a teacher. I was thinking more along the lines of a pulse rifle from Aliens. You're damn right I would grab one of those puppies!!!!!!!
Ya know what? I'm sorry MJ. I WOULD without question grab an Aliens pulse rifle. No way in hell would I grab that weapon that Scott described. The compromise, of course, is the Phased Plasma Rifle, from Terminator. It functions pretty much like a standard firearm, from everything I've read about it. However, it fires, if I remember correctly, a super-heated bolt of hydrogen gas at pretty close to the speed of light, and a few million degrees. This one fan site had schematics for it and everything. I'm not certain if I would grab that over my 9mm, if I were fighting human beings. If I were fighting Terminators, or some other enemy which required that kind of firepower, I would take it no question. However, if the 9mm was sufficient, I would probably go with that. You really owe Scott some serious Thank Yous, ya know that MJ?
I have already started today's game with a new player, Kurt, so I will continue with Harry, John III, Scott, John II, and Graeme.
Kurt has gone from character generation to the beginning of his game.
Harry has an uneventful couple of weeks until reaching Rough Passage, which will be eventful even if nothing happens.
I'm playing into John III's theological discussion to some degree, thinking my way through the mind of his companion in response to his questions, and enjoying the ride.
We'll get Scott through the shopping.
I've been thinking for a while that some of the threads are getting a bit long and I need a good break point. John II's seems to be the longest of those that are currently active, and it happens that he just crossed a related-universe boundary, so that's a good spot to start another thread, which we'll call John Crosses Down the Demon Rabbit Hole.
I'm going to use Graeme's Survival: Forest skill for his ability to move through the woods in the dark. It's 1@5 SAL, and with his 2@3 BRA and 11@ bias a 42 is a strong success.
--M. J. Young
which we'll call John Crosses Down the Demon Rabbit Hole.
Good play on my name.
I have Kurt, Harry, John III, Scott, and John II, and a bit of time to address them all today.
We'll give Kurt a quick overview of the scene.
Harry has caused me to think about one of the differences between holy and arcane magic that I am not always so clear about. (I've noticed that in playing the game I sometimes realize things that I do that I did not mention in the rules, and this is probably one of those.) He wants a skill that makes it so "I can get by on less sleep each night". My distinction is this: were this an arcane skill, my focus would be on the means described, in this case that he wants to alter himself in a way that will permit him to get by on less sleep. That would probably be a 15@1 Temporarily Alter Normal Abilities (a strong potential botch under the circumstances, I expect), or maybe a 15@3 Permanently Alter Normal Abilities (impossible in this world). However, he is petitioning the gods, which makes it holy magic, which means they have a hand in how they answer. In this case, I tend to look at the ends desired, which are that he will not be fatigued. I am thus inclined to make this a 2@1 Remove Fatigue skill. The disadvantage is that he will have to cast it frequently to repeat the effect; the advantage is that it is nearly certain to work the first time, and given the strength of the ritual has a high probability of working every time. I'm thinking that part of that bonus should be moved to increasing the efficacy of the skill, but let's crunch numbers.
There is a 1:00 TF for remove fatigue skills; he is using a 1:00:00 ritual. Six doublings takes it to 32:00, seven to 1:04:00, so we're four minutes shy, or 1/8th, from seven doublings, so that's +69. Appropriate words +5 with sound vital +2, +15 for total involvement of body, no material components but it must be performed in the activated holy ground, for which +10 seems appropriate. That's +101. I am going to take 10 away from that and double the effectiveness, such that a successful casting will remove all weariness and the need for sleep so effectively that he can skip the next night's rest, that is, after the one hour casting time he will suffer a normal day's fatigue forty-seven hours later, at a +91 SM. The roll has to be made to see whether he learns the skill, and separate from that he has to activate the holy ground (which proves to be the more difficult point), 45 is 1@1 Remove Fatigue M+2@1 must be lying supine in bed within an activated casting circle (holy ground) appropriate words spoken quietly but sound matters, invoking Tyr god of duty and valor, Thor god of strength, and Hugin and Munin symbols of vigilance, removing fatigue, 1:00:00TF reinvigorates such that caster will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work, +91SM.
He can learn it even if it doesn't work, and in this case it won't work if he fails to activate the holy ground, but a roll of 06 works.
I suppose I should let him figure out that he needs to cast it regularly for it to work consistently.
John III continues his theological discussion.
Scott is right that there's not much I can say--but there's not nothing, either, so I'll say it.
John II has entered the other universe, and the question is whether he will delay to examine the trees in detail or press forward to get the demons.
--M. J. Young
I'm not certain how awake I am, but I'm going to tackle posts from Kurt, Harry, John II, and Graeme, if I can manage it before going out for a late birthday dinner.
Kurt reaches his current objective.
Harry has joined the ranks of those who don't need to spend much time sleeping, and he finds it exhilarating. Can't blame him; I only wish at times I'd joined those ranks--except that someone would figure out what I should do with the extra time I'm not sleeping.
John II encounters the first distraction.
Graeme has some questions for me and some for Getafix. The augury rolls are 42 and 48, which are both going to be successful. However, for me to give him his "purpose" here, I'm going to have to figure out how it fits with his philosophy of the verse. Of course, maybe that's not quite what he meant, but we'll let him deal with it.
--M. J. Young
It appears to be a light game tonight, with Kurt, Harry, and John II posting.
We'll introduce Kurt to the stranger--sort of.
When Harry is piloting the ship, he has to make a skill check for it; the rest of the travels will be covered by a general effects roll. It will take 17 days to get through this (already rolled) unless there is an unscheduled problem (a really bad GE roll or a botch on his part). I don't think he would pilot every day, but the first day he rolls 52 against a 1@1 SAL, 2@3 BRA, and 2x7@ world bias=48, a near failure. The GE roll is 9, so that's going to help. He's got a 14 on the next day's roll, and 34 on the next roll, 08 the next, 64, 29, 07--that's eleven days, and I'll take a break to let Harry tell me anything he wants to say about this.
I shouldn't tell John II what will happen with his equipment as an in-game post, for for the record it doesn't matter whether your equipment is in the same universe as you--when you verse, your equipment verses and tries to find its way back to you. There are problems with relative distance sometimes, depending on how it is that you got separated from it (e.g., if someone took your equipment and you are now beating him in a relative success will power check, technically the distance between you and it is the cumulative distance between you and it before anyone versed plus (vectorily) the distance it has moved since then). The rest of his questions I can answer in thread.
--M. J. Young
Again I have Kurt, Harry, and John II.
Kurt gets some answers.
Harry is continuing his work, so that's more piloting skill checks: day 12 rolls 83, 63, 46, 36, 71, 03. I'm pleased to report that he never botched on the entire trip, so even though he was not always able to control the ship he didn't have a disaster.
John II finds the next treasure.
--M. J. Young
Kurt, Harry, and John II are again my players today.
Kurt came very close to asking an impertinent question, but on consideration he asked a reasonable one, and Michael di Vars might be unreasonable, but not until he's insulted.
Harry is in a quiet stretch, so I'm stretching it quietly for a bit.
John II gets a 19 GE on his quick search for saplings, so he doesn't see any at the moment.
--M. J. Young
I have Kurt, John II, and Graeme today.
Kurt wants proof that magic exists. No luck there, I think.
We'll move John II closer to his destination and allow him to consider the next nuance in the landscape.
Graeme gets a little more information, but not what he wants to know, exactly.
--M. J. Young
Given an extra day I picked up an extra player--Kurt, Harry, John II, and Graeme.
It's funny, it's been a dozen years probably since I changed the name of that early verser to Peter Adams, and never once realized that someone might confuse "Adams" for "human". I'll give Kurt credit for that insight, even though it's completely wrong. Maybe the conversation will make him realize that.
Harry is approaching his hundredth day of this run, and the increase of a bunch of skills he's been practicing--but he won't be there until they're in the Lesser Syndic in a few days, so he's got a day in port to relax.
John II has to decide whether to keep pace with Pedro or spend time harvesting gemstones.
I was going to check the numbers on Graeme's Remove Fatigue skill, but a roll of 10 is a clear success here, so I don't need to do any math. Incidentally, that's one of the suggestions on how to run a smoother game in the back of the book: roll the dice first, because most of the time you'll know whether that's a success or failure without doing the math, particularly after you've done it for a while.
Let's move forward.
--M. J. Young
I am not particularly healthy at the moment, and I was looking at the non-game posts and debating whether to tackle the few game-related ones or excuse myself to try to get some rest before the next day started, when I got a phone call from a good friend who tends to talk for a long time once he gets hold of me. It was a good conversation, but it also means that it is much later than it was, and I have traded for that conversation the choice of going to be early or doing game posts.
Hopefully I will be able to get to them tomorrow--that is, later today--if this respiratory infection is not worse.
--M. J. Young
Lazy good for nothing..... Kidding MJ. Hope you have a good sleep.
Sorry about yesterday; let's see if we can do better today. I see Kurt, Dave, Harry, John II, and Graeme.
Kurt and Michael are going to discuss magic for a bit.
Sometimes I'm just not thinking. I'm staring at Dave's thread, wondering what happens next--when duh, it hits me, I have to roll the dice to see whether there's going to be another event immediately, or soon, or sometime later. I don't think he particularly wants to be rushed from one disaster to the next, and a GE of 16 means he gets a bit of a respite before I roll again.
Harry wants to play the get-rich-by-buying-emeralds game, which is a viable game here (Joe Kondor did well with it, as I recall) except that "buying" them is a bit tricky. I'll give him the lay of the land, as it were, and see what he does with that.
I'm enjoying this little conversation with John II, but the next obstacle must come, and he is there.
I'll give Graeme fragments of one side of the conversation, and let him create the other side.
--M. J. Young
MJ, I just wanted to let you know about a potential botch for my character. I know you're not overly knowledgable about firearms. With any semi-automatic weapon, especially an assault rifle like the MAK 90, they have a tendency to slam-fire. A slam-fire is where the normally semi-automatic weapon fires fully automatic, completely out of control, until it runs out of ammunition. In other words, if I have that pointed at a demon, and roll a botch, I could very well end up doing a lot more damage to him than I originally intended. Of course, the consequence is that I would then be out of ammo, and his little brother would have an open pass at me. I had a slam-fire happen with an SKS (very similar to the MAK 90) It let loose 15 rounds before I even realized what happened. This could happen with the 9mm as well, but this is pretty much a unique thing to assault rifles. Just wanted to let you know that, since I am about to engage the enemy.
Having tackled the non-game threads, I observe game threads from Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John II.
Kurt has asked to be taught a skill set no one in memory has thought to ask: basic survival training. Di Vars is probably a good person to ask for that, too. I'll give him an essential lecture and let him pursue it in whatever direction he likes.
I find myself wondering whether paper is in common use in Dave's world. After all, there aren't a lot of things for which they really need it, at their tech level. On the other hand, there are some conveniences to paper that other media do not really replace. The general effects roll is 14 (Not Desired but Generally Favorable Result).
I am only a bit surprised by Harry's spell. I would have expected him to attempt a preservation skill, not a restoration. On the other hand, restoration is definitely an easier skill to prove. His first problem, though, is going to be getting some spoiled food--a problem seriously complicated by the fact that he is currently in an agricultural port, so the medical department as almost certainly emptied the larder of anything even ready to spoil to make room for fresh food being brought aboard. He'll need at least a 12 (Good Enough) on a GE roll--and he gets an 11 (Good but Below Expectations). His target skill is a 3@1 Prevent/Remove Impurities variant, which has a 1:00 base TF, and he has packed this with lots of bonuses. A roll of 81 is going to give him 1@3 Purify Food and Drink M+3@1, and I'll describe the ritual as soon as I've finished calculating everything: sit in activated holy ground (+10) for 1:00:00 TF (5.9 doublings of the 1:00 base TF for +59) while invoking Hel, Baldur, and Heimdall, saying "Restore what was, for the good of all, that what once passed may all the sooner come again," (appropriate content +5), +74SM. I don't really see "sitting" as total body involvement; for one thing it does not use hands. To me, sitting is like not doing anything, and thus there is no action component and no physical component. However, I won't penalize for words only, because he has to remain in the circle, which counts for something.
John II is attempting some serious magic here, commanding demons to come to him. This is a M10@9 Obedience, and I'll give it a 0:12 TF based on how long I think it would take to say that--+10 for doubled TF. I'll also give him loudly/forcefully +3 and appropriate words +5. However, he is using this on a target over one hundred yards distant--and the standard ranges are one hundred feet for long range, so we'll make it four hundred feet, two doublings of range for -20. I'll say sound is vital for +2. There is only one aspect (spoken) for -10, and he is attempting to influence two demons, -10 for the second. That puts the internal sitmod at -20. The total negatives for the skill learning attempt are -129. Going the other way, his bias is 11@7, religion 1@7 for +9, BRA 2@2, this is directly connected to an ordained quest for +10, the world bias is +15, all of which comes to +173. I believe that gives him a 54% chance of success, and his roll is 81, so nothing happens.
I am on my way out.
--M. J. Young
Just curious MJ, I invoked the name of Jesus Christ in that shout. Are there no bonuses for that? I would have thought there would be.